


Resist and Bite

by NoirSongbird



Series: Once Upon A Dream [3]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/F, Force-Sensitive Finn, Force-Sensitive Hux, Gray Jedi, M/M, Redemption AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-06-07 09:05:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6797776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoirSongbird/pseuds/NoirSongbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of bringing his lover and his closest friend to the Resistance, and with Ben still in a coma, Hux struggles to find a purpose. Given an opportunity to prove himself and his loyalties by aiding in the liberation of a small planet under First Order control, Hux is all too eager to throw himself into the fight, but Snoke is still lurking - and the First Order's new General has a very personal grudge against the old one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Resistance’s medbay, Hux found, was mostly a very quiet place. Their sorties, as best he could tell, were infrequent, and because of the nature of starship combat there were few injuries. Mostly, people came back whole or did not come back at all.

Ben had been moved to a more private room after two weeks of remaining comatose, and no one had questioned that Hux was, effectively, living there too. In theory he was a prisoner, while the Resistance determined exactly what to do with the repentant General who had claimed public credit for the destruction of the Hosnian System, but in practice he was mostly given free rein as long as he stayed out of any areas associated specifically with planning the war effort against the First Order. An understandable restriction, one he would have put in place himself in General Organa’s place.

Besides, he was mostly only interested in being at Ben’s side and, occasionally, getting a meal at the canteen. He never actually ate there, or spent much time in more populated areas of the base. The pall of obvious suspicion that surrounded him was too thick to be comfortable. For understandable reason, much of the Resistance was deeply uncomfortable with his presence, even as his hair and beard grew out and he looked less and less like the terrifying General he had been, the angry man in the holo who ordered the death of five planets with pomp and circumstance and certainty, and so he made an active effort to be present as little as possible.

Still, all the idle time he was left with was driving him mad. Hux was used to constant action, to always planning the next assault or the next negotiation or the next weapon. There was only so much time he could spend on the holos in the Resistance library, and going there was as uncomfortable as going anywhere else on base. He slept, more than he had on the  _ Finalizer,  _ and on occasion he and Rey practiced lightsaber skills, but even then there was something missing.

Two somethings, he supposed.

Ben was so far gone in his comatose state that Hux could not even reach him mind-to-mind through their Force bond, and when he tried, it felt like falling into a deep and infinite well of black water, with no end in sight. Rey had tried, too, and found the same thing - she hoped that Luke might be able to help, when he and Finn, the former Stormtrooper, apparently a Force-sensitive and training with Skywalker off-planet, returned to the base from wherever Skywalker had taken them off to very shortly after the defector group’s arrival, but Hux wasn’t entirely sure he trusted Ben’s old master to know how to save him from his new one. 

Mostly, though, Hux was going mad without a sense of purpose. He could do nothing to help Ben, he had accepts that - whatever internal battle his lover was doing against Snoke was his and his alone. The Resistance refused his help, and he had passed on all the information he had long ago. He was adrift, useless, and he had never felt so afraid in his life. Some of it, he knew, was because of the remnants of his First Order training - to have no use was to be dead weight wa to be disposable - but some, he supposed, was just because he hated to be idle. 

He needed to  _ do  _ something, needed to have a project. It itches at him to have nothing. 

 

\-------

 

Luke Skywalker’s return, to Hux’s mild consternation, was unplanned and unexpected. It happened while he was mid-dejarik game with General Organa - Leia was Ben’s most frequent visitor besides Hux, and Hux was almost surprised how easily he got on with the brilliant Resistance General. She was practically desperate for stories of her son, even if they were about his time in the First Order, and Hux was all too happy to tell them. She was also a clever player, and Hux deeply enjoyed occupying his mind with efforts to beat her.

An aide gently pushed open the door to Ben’s room, and Hux did not need the Force to read the mistrust practically rolling of her when she saw the Resistance General engaged in a friendly game with a former enemy. 

“General?” She said. Leia looked up, and the she blinked, and suddenly she was smiling broadly.

“It’s Luke, isn’t it?” She asked. The aide nodded.

“Master Skywalker and Finn have just  returned from their excursion. He’s eager to see you, ma’am.” The woman said. Leia stood, and beckoned for Hux to come with her.

“Luke will want to meet you, too,” she said, “he’ll be fascinated to find a Forceuser just coming into their powers at your age.” Hux frowned, briefly, but decided it was likely she meant nothing more by it than that Jedi were traditionally trained as children.

Though, in truth, Hux did not consider himself a Jedi, lightsaber or not.

“If you think it best, General,” he deferred, standing to follow her. It was years of conditioning that had him moving into a more military posture, and he felt a moment of embarrassment when he realized that both Organa and her aide were regarding him rather strangely. Still, it felt oddly comfortable, and so he walked next to the much shorter Resistance General with his back straight and his hands folded behind him.

“Are you entirely sure this is a good idea?” He asked, when they were closer to the hangar, trying to suppress a nervous tremble. “I doubt Finn will be pleased to see me, so soon.” To the former ‘trooper, Hux could only assume he was the menacing face of the Order’s propaganda - and if Finn blamed him for everything the Order had put him through, it would not be entirely unfair. Hux’s father had developed the program, but Hux himself had continued it when he could have stopped, turned to volunteers instead of conditioned children when the Order’s territory expanded. He could make all the excuses he liked; he was still responsible.

Some days, the Resistance and the Republic’s official forgiveness for his crimes did not sit well with him. This was one of those days.

“Finn is tough,” Leia said, tone soothing, “and in some ways the two of you aren’t that different - you both broke away from the Order, despite a lifetime telling you that you couldn’t.” 

“I doubt he will see it that way,” Hux said, shaking his head slowly, remembering the way Finn had glared at him for the few hours he had been on base when Hux first arrived, “but I appreciate your confidence, General.” They came to a stop at the hangar, and Hux snapped into parade rest, head tipped up slightly. He dug his nails into his palms to suppress his tremors, a somewhat more effective - or perhaps just painful - practice now that he no longer regularly wore thick gloves. He still insistently wore a pair, because it was comforting, but the soft brown cloth was nowhere near as thick as his old leather ones. 

He tried to pretend not to notice General Organa shooting him something approaching a concerned look.

He could see Finn and Luke striding over to meet them, and Finn looked genuinely happy to be back - several of the other pilots clapped him on the back companionably, and he paused to talk, which meant Luke reached them first.

“Luke,” Leia pulled her brother into a hug, “I’m so glad you’re back - it feels like as soon as you left things went strange.”

“I’m glad to  _ be  _ back,” Luke admitted. He pulled out of the hug and straightened, regarding Hux. “Who is this? One of the Order defectors?” He asked. “I don’t think we had the chance to meet before I left. Luke Skywalker.”

“Alexandros Hux,” he introduced himself, though he did not extend a hand, not keen on revealing his damaged palms, “though mostly just Hux, these days.” He could feel Finn’s eyes on him, now that the man had broken away from the pilots and come over. He was regarding Hux with a deep and abiding mistrust.

“Are you sure it’s safe to let him run around, General?” Finn asked, and Hux dug his nails in deeper, now very forcibly ignoring the blood pooling in his palms.

“Yes,” Leia said, surprisingly firmly. “Luke, Hux was the First Order’s General, but he defected, and brought a large amount of intelligence - and Ben.”

Luke was regarding him very seriously, and Hux felt, somehow, smaller under that intense blue gaze, even though Skywalker was several inches shorter than him (and Hux wondered, not for the first time, where Ben had gotten his height and muscle mass, when the rest of his family seemed so much smaller.) 

“You brought Ben back to the Light,” Luke said, and there was something edging on wonder in his voice. “I didn’t think it could be done, after what happened with his father, but you did it.”

“I helped him realize that Snoke was not the infallible master he believed him to be. The rest was by his choice,” he said. “But it  _ was  _ my idea to come here. I thought he would have the best chance of...recovering from Snoke’s manipulations, surrounded by people who understood the Light side of the Force.” He swallowed, feeling deeply nervous. “Although I underestimated the depths of Snoke’s influence - I believe he attempted some form of takeover of Ben, and failed only because Ben drew both of them into some deep, inaccessible part of his mind.”

“I see,” Luke said, and then, “bring me to see Ben.” He was speaking directly to Hux, and the former General nodded, turning on his heel with practiced precision. “You should join us, Finn, it may be beneficial for your Force training.” Finn looked slightly wary, but he nodded.

“I should go back to work, let the three of you busy yourselves with Force work,” Leia said. “Dejarik another time, Hux?”

“Whenever you’re free, General,” Hux said, inclining his head to her.

“Send Rey to meet us in medbay, please?” Luke requested, and Leia nodded, before bustling off into the base. “I have an idea, a way to wake Ben up. But it’s going to take all of us.”

Hux held Luke’s gaze for a long moment.

“Tell me what you require, and I will do it.” Anything to wake Ben up, to have him back, to maybe purge Snoke’s influence from his beloved forever.

Once, Hux had told Ben that he would burn the galaxy to the ground to keep him safe. It was not an exaggeration. Luke seemed to sense his determination, because he nodded firmly.

“Good.”


	2. Chapter 2

Hux had faced a multitude of trials in his life. He had stared down Snoke while plotting to steal away his apprentice, which he had expected to file under “most terrifying experience of his life.”

Snoke absolutely positively, in  _ no way  _ compared to Luke Skywalker.

Luke didn’t even look like he was  _ judging  _ Hux, but his Force presence was so bright, so powerful, and his gaze was so intense, Hux felt smaller for it. Like Luke could see right through him, down to his less-than-Light-side core. His eyes were on Hux the entire walk to the medbay, and Hux had never so wanted to be elsewhere since he was a child under his father’s gaze.

“How do you feel about Ben?” Luke asked, and he phrased it as an idle question, but Hux knew it was anything but. Ben’s entire family was evaluating him - he was sure if Han Solo were still alive, he would be too. He was also keenly aware of Finn, still glaring at him like he was something monstrous.

Which -- to Finn, he probably was. The propaganda face of the Order, the one directly responsible for the destruction of the Hosnian System, probably the root of the Order’s evil as far as the ex-Trooper was concerned.

“I love him,” Hux said, “more than anything in this life or in any life. I was willing to die for him, if he had asked it, and if it was what he wanted. It wasn’t - so I’m going to  _ live _ for him instead, and ensure that he is safe. There is nothing I would not do to ensure his safety and happiness.” Once, he might have felt sheepish about such a blatant declaration of his feelings, but not anymore. “Snoke pushed us together, promised us to each other - but I don’t think he quite anticipated what we were capable of, together.”

He didn’t need the Force to feel Finn’s surprise.

Luke moved to stand in front of him and lock eyes with him, and Hux had the sensation that despite having half a foot in height on the old Master, he was at about a dozen different kinds of disadvantage.

“I believe you,” Luke said finally.

“That doesn’t mean you’re suddenly okay,” Finn said, slightly sharply.

“I’m not expecting forgiveness,” Hux said. “As the General of the First Order, I did things I can’t even forgive  _ myself _ for.” He remembered the screams of the people in the Hosnian System, and had to suppress a shudder. “I make no excuses. See me as a monster if you wish. But Ben hasn’t had a choice since he was  _ ten. _ Younger, even, I can’t be entirely sure  _ when _ Snoke first made contact and began influencing him mentally.” He turned, to look Finn fully in the eyes. “I can’t ask you to forgive me. I do not expect you to. I  _ can  _ ask - beg, even - that whatever Luke needs all of us for, if it might help Ben, please, help him. Not for Kylo Ren, certainly not for me, but for Ben Solo, who has barely had a chance to be a person of his own.”

Finn frowned, and then stormed past Hux, muttering angrily about Hux  _ making sense. _

“You speak well,” Luke complimented, moving out of the way so they could make the rest of their way to medbay.

“I suppose,” Hux said, frowning faintly. "It's useful enough." Luke nodded, but said nothing else.  


 

* * *

 

Luke had them sit in a loose circle around Ben’s bed, Hux, then Rey, then Finn, then Luke. Phasma and Poe weren’t far, Hux could feel both of them with varying but sincere levels of concern.

“Join hands,” Luke instructed, “Hux, take Ben’s; I will too, and complete the circle. I...confess, I’m making a lot of this up, but in theory I think this is going to work.”

Hux wanted to protest, but ultimately it couldn’t exactly get  _ worse, _ so he slid one hand into Ben’s and then extended the other one to Rey. She took it, and then grabbed Finn’s, and they exchanged a brief look that Hux was sure was then fortifying each other. Finn took Luke’s, Luke took Ben’s, and the circle was formed.

“Now,” Luke instructed, “start meditative breathing. I assume everyone here knows how to do that?”

“Yes, sir,” Hux said, the title of respect automatic; he was certain the question was primarily directed at him, since Luke had trained both Rey and Finn. He closed his eyes and began the seven-count breathing Ben had taught him. 

“Hux, focus on Ben. Everyone else, focus on Hux - we’ll be providing him a boost in his Force power that should let him follow his Force bond with Ben to wherever Ben has trapped himself.” Luke explained. Hux had to admit, he was impressed. In terms of what he knew about the Force, it sounded conceptually sound, if a bit potentially dangerous. 

His bond with Ben had been flickering and weak, but he focused on it, grasping it with his mind and pushing his energy into it. He felt Rey’s desert-wind, and an energy that felt like a stopped blaster bolt and  _ had _ to be Finn.

And then there was Luke Skywalker, a bottomless well of Force, a calm, serene lake that both grounded and invigorated Hux.

In his mind’s eye, he could see the glowing golden thread of his Force bond with Ben. He tugged on it, just a little, and found it sturdy, and so he followed it with his mind, down that dark well that so often seemed too deep and too endless to pass. With three other Forceusers helping him, and a bright golden guide, it no longer seemed so endless.

Finally, he saw the outline of a familiar figure, leaning against a door that shook with impacts from the other side. It was almost fascinating how solidly visualized this place in Ben’s head was; the door he was presumably keeping Snoke behind looked almost real.

“Ben!” He stepped onto solid ground, and Ben looked startled, eyes going wide. He was in Jedi robes, and it warmed Hux’s heart to see that he thought of himself that way. 

“Hux?” Ben asked, and he stepped away from the door, which rattled harder. He looked back, started towards it, but Hux strode towards him and reached out with the Force, shoving back against whatever was on the other side.

“I’m here. I came to get you,” he said, extending Ben a hand. Ben stared at it, eyes slightly wide, and began to reach for Hux, but he stopped mid-gesture.

“I can’t,” he said, shaking his head firmly, “I can’t do that - I have to keep him trapped here.” There was no need to elaborate on who “he” was. Snoke, it was always Snoke, it would always  _ be  _ Snoke. 

Hux wanted to wrap his hands around that monster’s neck and crush the life out of him  _ personally _ .

“It doesn’t just have to be you, Ben. Luke can help you, Rey, your mother,” Hux grabbed Ben’s partially extended hand, tugging him over. “ _ I’ll _ help you, love, please.”

“He almost took me over, Hux, he’s been playing around in my head for so long I don’t know what’s me and what’s him, I can’t trust myself.” He stared at their joined hands, and Hux swore he could see tears welling up. 

“Then we’ll help you push him out; Ben, please, we can do this, together,” Hux was close to begging, desperate to make Ben come back with him.

“I can’t risk him bleeding over from me to you or anyone else,” Ben said, and then, quieter, “and I opened the door. I let him in, I chose to listen to what he was saying. I have to close it myself, I have to shove him out on my own - it’s the only way I can be sure he’s really gone.”

Hux frowned. He hated that he understood - it was the same reason he burned to properly help the Resistance.

He had done awful things, he had to make up for them with his own hands.

“You can do it, Ben,” Hux said softly, “you were always stronger than him. I never understood the Force, not really, even once you started teaching me - but I always knew that.” He reached up with his free hand, tangling it in Ben’s hair, marveling briefly at how real this entire mental landscape felt, and then he leaned up the few inches between them to press their lips together. Ben’s free arm wrapped around his waist, holding him close, and Hux sighed into the kiss, enjoying it thoroughly - because he knew it was the last time he would taste Ben until his lover won his battle with Snoke.

“Come home,” he whispered against Ben’s lips when they finally pulled apart, “when you’ve burned him out of every nook and cranny of your wonderful, brilliant mind, _ come home. _ And not just to me. And if you realize you can’t do this alone - if you need me, or just want my help, call for me. I’ll hear you, and come hell or high water, I will come.”

“I know,” Ben said, and he slowly disentangled himself from Hux, going back to the door and leaning all his weight against it. “I know I can always call for you and you’ll come. And I promise, I won’t stay here forever. I can’t. I’ll come back to you, Hux, and to my family. Tell them that.”

“I will,” Hux said. Hen, slightly desperately, because he needed to be sure Ben knew - “I love you, Ben.”

“I know,” Ben said, smiling slightly ruefully as the entire landscape began to fade and Hux felt himself being pulled back into his body. “I love you too, Xan.”

When he woke up in the medbay, Hux realized there were actual tears drying on his cheeks.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this has obviously been a long time coming. I want to apologize for the hiatus -- and say that I am hoping to return strong, and keep producing new chapters of my Kylux works on a quick schedule again!
> 
> Please, enjoy!

****

It was...difficult, for Hux to explain exactly what he had seen in that small space inside Ben’s mind. The entire experience had seemed perfectly rational while it was happening, but after -- well. Much like waking from a dream, the inherent strangeness of it all only hit him as he attempted to make  _ other people _ understand what he had seen. 

Still, knowing that Ben was at least alive, and trapped by his own will and not an outside force, was heartening. It meant that he could - he  _ would  _ wake up, when he was certain it was safe, and Hux could wait forever if the promise was that Ben would be free of Snoke’s overpowering influence.

He continued to ache to do  _ something, anything,  _ and so he spent more time wandering the base, which meant, inevitably, running into members of the Resistance. It was -- ultimately startling, that despite the distrust he could feel like a thick cloud, most of the people who actually spoke to him were remarkably friendly, or at least not  _ openly  _ hostile. He wasn’t sure he could ask for much more than that, really. At least, not until he had proven his commitment.

 

* * *

 

Hux was fairly certain he had managed to find his way to a part of the Resistance base he was not supposed to be able to access. Classified Resistance briefings were above his clearance level - assuming he  _ had  _ one that was beyond the average prisoner, which felt like a fairly large assumption.

Either way, listening at doorways to discussions of Resistance operations was not, generally speaking, something he was supposed to be doing while enjoying the Resistance’s hospitality. 

He was  _ absolutely  _ doing it anyway.

“We simply do not have the resources to respond to every request for help,” that was Admiral Statura, ever practical - Hux rather liked him.

“Still, this one is particularly distressing,” there was Admiral Ackbar, the brilliant Mon Calamari strategist. “A local resistance on Belladoon...we were unable to help them when the First Order conquered the planet; surely we can spare a few fighters now? Surely we owe it to them?”

“We can’t,” Leia said, and she sounded exhausted.

Belladoon -- Hux knew that name. It had once been one of the last planets held by the Empire, and had been an early First Order conquet. Not one of his, personally, but he remembered hearing that there had been small pockets of resistance on the planet the entire time it was under First Order rule.

He frowned, feeling something itch under his skin. This was  _ important  _ \- this was exactly what he needed. A purpose, something to  _ do _ \-- if helping liberate a planet form First Order control wasn’t a noble use of his time and newfound abilities, he couldn’t think of anything that  _ was. _

“Let me help them, then,” he said, and he stepped through the doorway into the room.

He regretted it almost immediately -- being met with the stares of most of the Resistance’s command was just as intimidating as being met with the stares of the First Order’s Admiralty. It was Statura, Ackbar, Leia, and Luke, and several people he didn’t recognize. Other old Rebellion fighters, some of them, but other were younger, newer faces - people from the Republic’s army. He wondered, faintly, how many of them might have had family in the Hosnian system. How many hated him for things he would never be able to make up for. Surely some of them, with the absolutely poisonous glares he was receiving.

He carefully pulled the Force in around him, not eager to feel what anyone else in the room was feeling.

(He had to remember that it was likely none of them knew or cared that he was Brendol Hux’s disowned bastard, that their judgment was, at least, based solely on  _ his  _ actions, which was...oddly comforting, even if that meant they were judging him harshly. He had earned those glares. They weren’t for something he couldn’t control and could never undo.)

“ _ You?  _ Surely you don’t mean  _ alone.” _ Statura said, regarding him with narrowed eyes.

“Of course not.” Hux acknowledged. “I would ask, if they are willing, to take the former Stormtroopers who came with me when I defected, as well as Phasma. It will not be the army Belladoon is no doubt hoping for, but it will be something.”  _ Please,  _ he wanted to say, but he couldn’t make himself beg,  _ let me do something. Let me do this.  _ When no one interrupted him, he kept going, hoping he could convince them. “You aren’t sending anyone, you can’t afford to - understandably - and if we fail, you lose very little. A few turncoats and -”

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Luke said, cutting in. “During the Clone Wars, Jedi regularly led small squadrons into fights much like this. It was an extremely effective model of combat, and I think we would do well to bring it back. Send Hux, Finn, Rey, and the other defectors. Let the First Order see the power of those who turned against them.”

“It would be an effective psychological strategy,” Hux offered. “And the only other thing I’m doing is lurking around your base being entirely useless.”

Statura regarded him for a very long moment.

“You really think you, two trainee Jedi, and a ragtag group of First Order defectors can do this.” He said.

“I think you have nothing to lose by sending us.” Hux replied.

“Hux is right,” Leia said, finally.

“General,” Ackbar began.

“No, he is,” Leia frowned. “We can’t afford to send anyone else, though I’m certain that when Poe hears Rey and Finn are going, he’ll insist he has to as well.” Hux brought up a hand to cover his quiet snort. Of course Dameron would insist; he was clearly deeply fond of Finn and Rey both. (In different ways, but fond nonetheless.)

There were a thousand things Hux  _ wanted  _ to say -- but he was far too old and far too invested in projecting an image of unflappable confidence to tumble over himself offering effusive thanks for the chance to get off base and begin to demonstrate exactly how useful he could be to the Resistance, or to promise not to let them down or make them regret giving him this chance. All of those were the words of a nervous, trembling twenty-something Academy graduate on his first assignment, not a thirty-five-year-old General. 

“I promise to return your prized pilot and Jedi pupils as unharmed as I can manage,” he said instead of any of that, and he swore for a minute that Luke cracked a smile, but the old master covered it quickly.

“See that you do that,” Ackbar said, all too seriously. Hux nodded, and then slipped out of the room. 

 

* * *

 

The plan went over almost alarmingly well with the ragtag group of Stormtroopers that he was already beginning to think of as  _ his  _ squadron.

“We’ll be like the ‘troopers in the Clone Wars,” Rabbit said dreamily, sighing, “serving under Jedi Generals and helping people.”

“You’ve been watching too many holos,” Lucky said, slightly gruffly, but even he was grinning. Phasma regarded Hux seriously for a long moment, and then she gave a sharp nod of assent.

“It’s an excellent idea,” Phasma said. “A group of defectors helping the Belladoon resistance finally throw off the First Order…”

“It’s what we defected to do, right?” Sparks asked, standing up. “I’m gonna go talk to Finn. Rey, you want to come with me? I think he’ll listen.” Hux smiled faintly. His ‘troopers had struck up a collective friendship with Finn, built partially on admiration and partially on Finn’s general kind nature. Whatever the man felt towards the Order, he obviously harbored no ill will towards his fellows - and Hux suspected Rey and Sparks would have a much better time talking Finn into this adventure than Hux would.   


He was proven right when Finn showed up as they were packing into the  _ Millennium Falcon -  _ the only ship the Resistance could spare - with Dameron in expected tow. 

“I think you’re all completely crazy,” Finn said, “for about half a dozen reasons. But I’m not going to let Rey do something this crazy without me.” He crossed his arms and stared Hux down, as if daring the former General to challenge him. Instead, Hux nodded, hefting up a crate of supplies.

“Good.” He said. “Then you and Commander Dameron can help us pack.”


End file.
